Innovia Film, a company specialising in the production of cellulose films for labels and packaging, has been prosecuted for breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act.
In 2006 electrician Gordon Metcalf and his apprentice were working in Innovia's Cumbira factory and were tasked with cleaning a fuse box full of debris. What they didn't expect was the box to shoot out fire. Both electricians had their clothes set on fire, and while the apprentice suffered more minor injuries, Metcalf had burns across 47% of his body. He did survive, but is still undergoing treatment 5 years later.
The HSE investigated and discovered the day before this accident occurred the fuse box had suffered a fire. That box was integral to cooling equipment functioning that allowed production to continue at the factory.
Rather than shutting down production to find out what caused the fire and fix the box, Innovia instead decided to route live cables through it to continue production. A shutdown would have meant being offline for 36 hours.
So Metcalf was asked to work on a fuse box without full knowledge of what had happened the previous day, and while live cables were routed through it.
Innovia pleaded guilty to the charges brought against them and have been fined £90,000. A further £26,790 was demanded by the judge to help pay for the prosecution.
Source: Health and safety at work
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